Ear wax plugged up?

Kinda gross, but I woke up last night with absolutely no hearing in my left ear. It feels like something is lodged in there - q tipping just pushed it deeper into my ear - I'm sure it's wax. Tried a long hot shower, and more q tipping, helped a bit, but I pushed the remainder deeper, and still can't hear.

Really starting to mess with my inner ear and balance.

I've read everything from these ear candle thingamajigs that you light and let ooze into your ear (kinda freaked out by that) to dumping a few drops of olive oil in, to sucking it up and going to the doc and having them pull it out.

Anyone?

Big syringe with warm water (salt if you like) maybe even some vinegar in there. Squirt it in there and either flush it out or at least dissolve it smaller until it will flush out. Of course if it's actually a cockroach that crawled into your ear this may not help.

Nice, will try that, thanks. Thought it was ocean water at first from an earlier session yesterday, but it gives no indication that it is liquid.

Maybe it's a scarab and will eat my brains.

During a physical, a doctor used a syringe and a giant gob of wax came out. Then I was like holy crap I can hear again, I had no idea that everything was muffled probably for years.

The swell was swell up my way yesterday. Lots of fun on the outer sandbar by Fox Island, growing through the day. We got out at 2 as the tide came in to the dunes -- and then it came in for 2 more hours.

Mineral oil and then the syringe.

Forget the oil douche and syringe trick, use tongs this will even remove the cockroach.

Carbamide peroxide, generic version of this stuff:

http://www.wekenshop.com/images/8609.jpg

This happened to me once. Went to the doc because I thought I punctured my eardrum. He had a nurse squirt warm water in my ear for a few minutes and some HUDGE chunks of wax came out. Biggest one was the size of the end of my pinky. That'll be $200 bucks please....

Moral of the story, get some of the wax softener and a large syringe. Let the softener soak in your ear for a while. Then get someone to squirt hot water from the syringe into you ear for a while until hudge chunks of wax and shit fall out. Good luck.

the syringe works every time

colace (liquid stool softener) also works

Wow, didn't expect so many responses...sounds like syringe is the trick.

Maybe a pictorial TR to follow?

Yeti, how were the winds up your way? hard south and sucky here....we need to get in the water sometime.

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colace (liquid stool softener) also works

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Stupid question: You mean pour it in the ear?

As I've gotten older, I've become more prone to ear infections. I'm in and out of the water all the time, everyday.
I use a solution of 50% vinegar and 50% alcohol every evening and it helps a lot!

One of the most continuously painful experiences I've had was after I dove into Lake Powell and the pressure pushed wax deeper in. We were in the middle of a trip and for 3 days there was a constant pounding ear and headache.

When we got home, I couldn't wait to get to the ER where a jaw breaker size wad of wax was scooped out and more was apparent. I then went to a specialist where he worked for 45 minutes scooping dousing and, yes, vacuumed out the stuff.

Just cut to the chase and Shop Vac your ears once a month. :eek:

You can get a rubber, round bulb with a spot you can use with soapy water (or other remedies mentioned) to flush out your ears.

http://www.getridofthings.com/images/earwax-3.jpg

Here is a good link.

do NOT do ear candling. it's bogus. but whatever you do, be careful.

no comment

i thought ear candling was a crock of shit, but my last girlfriend really wanted to try it so i did. not sure how much it actually did, but i felt pretty good after.

Having had my eardrum punctured by a doctor in the ER when I went there for this very thing, I have some experience with ears after also having gotten a tympanoplasty (eardrum reconstruction) twice. Best advice my ENT had was...if you have one of those removable shower heads, tilt your head to the side and run warm water in your ear every so often when you shower. You should be able to hear and feel it hitting your eardrum. That takes the wax out before you get a buildup (also know as swimmer's ear).

Bumping because this happened to me last night. Woke up around 2am with a definite impairment in the left ear. Gave the earlobe a tug and it cleared.

Up again at 3 and the tug didn't work. Tried q-tips and apparently just made things worse.

Went to the local minute clinic this morning and the nurse started out excited, apparently she's one of those pimple popper types who enjoys this type of thing.

Anyways, she started the irrigation pumping in high pressure water/solution through what looked like a ball-inflating needle.

It was uncomfortable to begin with, but productive given the mess in the basin. Then after a few squirts it turned into intense pain / blood and I had to pull away.

She got the attending and it seems I had irritated everything a bit with the q-tips and the water blasts further inflamed the ear drum.

Now I'm on antibiotic/steroid drops for a week and still can't hear.. its like a noise canceling ear bud is stuck in there with no audio.

WTF.

First time I've ever had anything like this happen and the doc (let's be honest here, PA at the clinic) said the other ear is perfectly clear.


I've got 5-7 days on the drops to heal things and then they want to try irrigating it again.

Maybe I should see an ENT instead and feel lucky my drum is (allegedly) still intact?

Damn, the first 3 lines had me hooked and laughing and amped for some freaky pimple popping nurse story. Hope you get his worked out. ENT sounds like a good option.

whenever i had to go to the doctor to deal with this shit, they used one of these irrigation things from bionix. always worked. so i bought one for home so i could stop paying the doctor to have his nurse use this thing on me.

https://bionix.com/otoclear-ear-irrigation.html

As somebody who removes wax (cerumen) from ears on a daily basis I have a few ways I like to get it done. What I use is dependent upon the consistency of the wax, its location in the canal, the patients sensitivity, and whether or not I can determine if there is a hole in the drum.

Most of the time I can just go in with a curette and pull it right out. Probably not a good option for you do it yourselfers.

My second most used technique is irrigation. I have a couple different irrigation systems but what I have found works best for me, is most comfortable to the patient, and the cheapest is the Elephant Ear Washer. Basically a squirt bottle with a soft tip on the end. Amazon sells them for like $30 but you could probably make your own for $5. I fill it with body temp water and a little baby shampoo. Squirt the solution in and let it sit for a few minutes to soften the wax and then repeat as needed. My record one one ear is 7 bottles on one ear. Patient was 107 years old and had rock hard wax was that had been there for probably 50+ years.

I like squirt bottle better than the water pick type of irrigators because I feel I have more control over the pressure. Just make sure you don't have a hole in the ear drum. If I can't see the drum and/or verify it's intact through tympanometry I'll go with suction (again probably beyond a do it yourself thing). Just make sure any fluid you put in your ear is about body temp. The lateral semi-circular canal lies along the back wall of the middle ear if it's stimulated with by hot or cold temps things are going to start to spin (vertigo).

For ongoing maintenance I like to use straight 5% hydrogen peroxide. Carbamide peroxide works as well but its about $8 a half ounce and peroxide is about 5 cents an ounce. Use a bulb syringe (you know the blue baby snot suckers). Suck up some peroxide and fill the ear canal, let it sit for a few minutes (listen to a couple Slayer tunes). Use the bulb syringe to squirt water into the canal and flush everything out. Again watch the temps of the water and peroxide. I do it every couple months as needed. If you do it too often your ears will dry out and itch.

Ear candles don't work. FDA warns not to use them. Q tips often just cause the wax to become impacted.

Yeah, I had the same procedure done recently and I was screaming in pain. WTF it felt like they were using an ice pick.

Just saw the Bionix recommendation above. Works great. Similar to the Elephant ear washer thing.

Those things all seem wider and softer than what was on the end of the squirt bottle she stuck in me this morning. Seriously looked like a needle to inflate a basketball. Guess that's what I get for going to urgent care instead of the regular doc.

Lesson learned.

Go to an ENT if you still can’t hear right. something doesn’t seem right, based on your description. Not a doctor, but I’ve got a fair bit of patient experience with this shit.

An ENT has a suction rig that is the best for this shit. I've had my right eardrum rebuilt twice and the ear has pretty much lost the ability to spiral out the wax as it is designed to do. The NYT Sunday magazine did an article on ear spoons last week, an Asian guilty pleasure of wax removal. Prevention? Run the shower stream into your ear canals when you bathe.

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Originally Posted by JayPowHound

Bumping because this happened to me last night. Woke up around 2am with a definite impairment in the left ear. Gave the earlobe a tug and it cleared.

Up again at 3 and the tug didn't work. Tried q-tips and apparently just made things worse.

Went to the local minute clinic this morning and the nurse started out excited, apparently she's one of those pimple popper types who enjoys this type of thing.

Anyways, she started the irrigation pumping in high pressure water/solution through what looked like a ball-inflating needle.

It was uncomfortable to begin with, but productive given the mess in the basin. Then after a few squirts it turned into intense pain / blood and I had to pull away.

She got the attending and it seems I had irritated everything a bit with the q-tips and the water blasts further inflamed the ear drum.

Now I'm on antibiotic/steroid drops for a week and still can't hear.. its like a noise canceling ear bud is stuck in there with no audio.

WTF.

First time I've ever had anything like this happen and the doc (let's be honest here, PA at the clinic) said the other ear is perfectly clear.


I've got 5-7 days on the drops to heal things and then they want to try irrigating it again.

Maybe I should see an ENT instead and feel lucky my drum is (allegedly) still intact?

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Sounds like impacted earwax. Q-tips are the enemy. I never use anything in my ears anymore (even the cute scapula thingy). Only a once every 2 -3 months baby bulb syringe irrigation. I fill a glass with 1/4 vinegar, 1/4 isopropyl alcohol and 1/2 warm water. Then irrigate both ears 6 or 7 times gently and then leave them alone for another 2 or 3 months unless there is a problem.

This cured all my ear issues. The recipe was from a diving forum. Initially there may be a really stubborn chunk of impacted wax but it will come out with time. The vinegar is to make it slightly acidic and prevent mold and infection. The alcohol is to air dissolving and dry out after.

Since you had blood I'd suggest an EMT if it doesn't clear up soon. The last thing you want is a strep throat infection that goes into ears or something like that. Blood sounds nasty but it could just be from skin irritation.

Good luck!